The Academy of Country Music held their 51st annual award show last night and there was no shortage of highlights from the night! Whether you missed the show or if you just want to relive all the great moments again, below is a list of the top moments from last night’s show.
Blake Shelton Pulling A Kanye
Apparently Blake wasn’t quite ready to give up his co-hosting duties to Dierks Bentley just yet. He grabbed Dierks’ mic and joined a surprised Luke Bryan on stage as he opened the show with his current hit single, “Huntin’, Fishin’, and Lovin’ Everyday”.
The Entire Audience Trying To Take Credit For Chris Stapleton
It’s been a big year for Chris Stapleton and his success at the CMA Awards last November carried over to last night with him winning, Male Vocalist of the Year, New Male Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year. We all know Chris Stapleton deserves and is the one responsible for all the credit he’s been given, but that hasn’t stopped others from trying to pass themselves off as being the ones who discovered him. Co-hosts Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley both jokingly attempted to claim they discovered Stapleton and the argument spilled over into the audience with numerous other artists including Thomas Rhett, Jason Aldean, Charles Kelley, and Carrie Underwood (who presented a bedazzled Chris Stapleton tank top she said she owned since before Stapleton was even born) claiming they were the firsts to discover the country star. His performance of “Fire Away” with his wife, Morgane, later in the night proved exactly why everyone wishes they could claim to be the one who discovered him, he’s amazingly talented.
Quotes Of The Night
There were a few memorable quotes from the night, but the two that stood out above the rest were Chris Stapleton while accepting his award for Song of the Year saying, “I thought we were going to get Girl Crushed on this one”, referring to Little Big Town’s huge hit song “Girl Crush”. Later on in the night as Little Big Town was accepting their award for Vocal Group of the Year, Kimberly poked a little fun back at Stapleton saying, “Thank you Chris Stapleton for not being a group”. The whole exchange just reaffirms the fact that country music is one big happy family who can have some fun teasing each other while celebrating their successes.
Eric Church Honors Lemmy, Frey, Bowie, and Weiland
Eric Church gave an outstanding performance of his new single, “Record Year” that incorporated songs from the four amazing artists we said goodbye to this year. The performance featured McKinley James who starred in Church’s ACM Award winning music video for his hit “Mr. Misunderstood” and proved once again just how incredible an Eric Church live performance is.
.@ericchurch paying tribute to some of the greats while delivering a pretty great song of his own! #ACMs #RecordYear pic.twitter.com/p3YLnEfmDs
— ACM Awards (@ACMawards) April 4, 2016
Keith Urban’s Banjo Fueled Performance of “Wasted Time”
We all know Keith Urban can slay a guitar, but for last night’s performance of his new song “Wasted Time” he showed off his banjo skills and if you say you weren’t dancing around your living room during the performance, you’re lying! It was one of the most fun performances of the night.
Little Big Town and Trombone Shorty Perform “Stay All Night”
There was no shortage of great performances on the night, but Little Big Town and Trombone Shorty’s performance of their song, “Stay All Night” off their Painkiller album is at the top of the list as one of the best. It brought the soul factor to the show and allowed the entire band to show off their amazing vocal abilities. Plus it even got Eric Church dancing!
Hey @littlebigtown & @tromboneshorty… can you guys stay all night? #ACMs pic.twitter.com/Me7uIkWwxN
— ACM Awards (@ACMawards) April 4, 2016
Tim McGraw Gives Us All The Feels
His new hit song, “Humble and Kind” already makes us all want to be better people but this performance took it to a whole new level. It started off with just Tim, on a stool surrounded by the entire audience wearing light up bracelets shining in the darkness. Then as the second verse began you could hear the audience singing a long as a crowd of people from all different professions and walks of life trickled in to essentially help recreate a live version of the song’s music video. It was a hugely impactful moment!
A photo posted by Academy of Country Music (ACM) (@acmawards) on
We Got A Little Rock In Our Country
Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and the great Billy Gibbons of rock group ZZTop took to the stage to perform the band’s hit song, “Tush” and it was as amazing and you’d expect it to be!
And this is what you call, #Guitarmageddon. @mirandalambert, #BillyGibbons and @KeithUrban just SLAYED it! pic.twitter.com/nHEk5zSHEl
— ACM Awards (@ACMawards) April 4, 2016
Carrie Underwood Had Us Hearing “Church Bells”
Carrie Underwood and her flawless legs took to the stage to perform her newest song, “Church Bells” and she proved once again that she has one of the best voices (and wardrobes) in country music.
Sam Hunt Strips It Down
Sam Hunt performing his new song, “Make You Miss Me” in a white suit while playing the piano had all of us wishing he was missing us! The stripped down performance definitely showcased Hunt’s vocal and musical talent.
Two Words, Dolly Parton!
The self proclaimed Backwoods Barbie herself graced the stage with pop star Katy Perry for a duet of “Coat of Many Colors”, “Jolene”, and “9 to 5” and the entire audience and Twittersphere went nuts! There may have been multiple jokes about both ladies and their larger ahem, assets, through out the night, but you could tell just how excited everyone in attendance and those of us watching from our couches were for this collaboration. Dolly and Katy did not disappoint!